Update from the Office of LGBT Life

We have had a busy fall semester here in the Office of LGBT Life! Interim Director Danielle Steele and our student staff hit the ground running in August with the Office of LGBT Life Open House. We enjoyed welcoming Emory students back to campus and sharing information about our programs with the community. Then the Office invited graduate and professional students to celebrate the new semester at our LGBT Grad Student Social in September. The event proved to be a great opportunity to collaborate and network with LGBT graduates across the university.

Our Office has also been busy raising awareness about LGBT issues here at Emory. Our student staff tabled at the weekly Wonderful Wednesday event on campus several times this fall. We used Wonderful Wednesday to celebrate Bi/Pansexual Pride Day on Sept. 23, National Coming Out Day on Oct. 14, and Asexual Awareness Day on Oct. 28. We engaged with dozens of Emory students on each occasion, and we started many exciting conversations about LGBT life.Our largest event of the semester—and perhaps our most fun event!— was the 45th annual Atlanta Pride Parade. Emory students, staff, faculty, alumni, and friends joined together on Sunday, Oct. 11, to march in Atlanta Pride. Rumor has it that Swoop, Emory’s eagle mascot, even made a special appearance! We distributed more than 100 t-shirts to people who marched in the parade with Emory, and we passed out fans donated by Emory’s Alumni Association to crowds along the parade route. You can find photos of Emory participants in the parade here.

More recently, our Office sponsored an LGBT Study Abroad Panel to discuss studying abroad as an LGBT student. We also celebrated Trans Day of Remembrance on Thursday, Nov. 19. We honored the 73 transgender people killed worldwide over the past year with a memorial service in the Little Chapel on campus.

Aside from these special events and programs, the Office of LGBT Life has continued to offer our Safe Space trainings and Queer Discussion Groups this fall. In October, Affordable Colleges Online ranked Emory the #10 Most LGBTQ-Friendly College of 2016, in part because of these two outstanding programs. You can read more about the ranking process here.

Finally, we encourage you to “save the date” for our annual Pride Awards, to be held Thursday, March 3, at 6:30 p.m. in the Miller-Ward Alumni House. Be on the lookout for more information about nominating people for the awards!

As always, alumni involvement continues to benefit our students. Contact Danielle Steele at dmsteel@emory.edu if you are interested in being more involved with the Office of LGBT Life. You can also keep up-to-date with our activities through our Facebook and Instagram pages. Thank you!